Leadership
Matthew Harrington
Election Reflection: When Does a Vision Become ...

Reflecting on the recent election, the Harris campaign's lack of a clear and compelling vision became evident in contrast to Trump’s well-communicated stance, making it challenging for voters to see her future for America. Drawing from the change formula, a successful campaign requires acknowledging dissatisfaction, defining a visionary goal, and setting clear steps toward achieving it—elements that were more apparent in Obama’s 2008 campaign, where “hope and change” aligned with voters' aspirations and activated widespread engagement. Ultimately, the Harris campaign's struggles highlight the need for leaders to craft a vision that resonates powerfully and unites people around a shared purpose, as fear alone can often overshadow hope if it lacks sufficient clarity and preparation.

Election Reflection: When Does a Vision Become Lost—or Was It Never Realized in the First Place?
Leadership
Matthew Harrington
Lincoln’s Leadership: A Blueprint for Resilient ...

As Election Day 2024 nears, reflecting on Abraham Lincoln’s legacy offers valuable insights into adaptive leadership, resilience, and unity. Known for his humility, conviction, and strategic flexibility, Lincoln showed how true leaders use disruptions to inspire lasting change. This election, we can look to Lincoln’s example of courage and empathy, guiding us to face challenges boldly and strive for a united future.

Lincoln’s Leadership: A Blueprint for Resilient Leadership Beyond Election Day
People, Leadership
Matthew Harrington
Navigating Conflict in the Workplace: The ...

Conflict at work is inevitable, but with the right tools, it can become an opportunity for growth. In this post we explore how leaders can guide teams through conflict by understanding how the brain processes emotions through the downstairs, middle room, and upstairs functions of the brain.

Navigating Conflict in the Workplace: The Downstairs, Middle Room and Upstairs of Resolution
Culture, People
Matthew Harrington
Belief-Behavior Conversations In Action: How ...

Belief-behavior conversations, as we discussed in our e-book: Revitalize and Retain Staff, aim to address the root causes behind actions, rather than merely correcting surface-level behavior. Pixar’s leadership used this approach to facilitate open, meaningful dialogues, helping the team uncover the underlying beliefs fueling their actions. Once these beliefs were identified, leaders guided team members toward reframing them, creating lasting behavioral change.

Belief-Behavior Conversations In Action: How Pixar Transformed Team Dynamics and Communication
People, Leadership, Culture
Matthew Harrington
Leadership Growth Lattice in Action: How ...

Discover how LinkedIn transformed employee growth and retention with the Leadership Growth Lattice, a modern alternative to traditional career ladders. By encouraging skill development, cross-functional teamwork, mentorship, volunteerism, and alignment with personal life goals, LinkedIn fostered a culture of continuous learning and flexibility. This holistic approach empowered employees, reduced turnover, and fueled innovation, positioning LinkedIn as a top employer in the competitive tech industry.

Leadership Growth Lattice in Action: How LinkedIn Embraced Holistic Employee Development to Drive Retention and Innovation

…And Now Some Love (and Understanding) for Gen-X

…And Now Some Love (and Understanding) for Gen-X

Even though this is GrowingMillennialLeadership.com, it’s also important for us to look at other generations and understand what makes them tick and why they are the way they are.  I have a Gen-X friend and colleague who likes to give me a hard time for posting so much about Millennials.  So for him, and all of you ‘latchkey’ kids out there (including my older brother), this one’s for you.

As we have with other generations let’s explore some of the characteristics (both labeled and self-induced) of Gen-X.  Remember, generations are more defined by life’s events that occurred during their forming years, then the actual dates in which they were born.  As historian Robert Wohl put it, “historical generations aren’t born; they are made.”  Gen-X, born approximately between 1965 -1980, have been labeled pragmatic, lazy, rebellious, pessimistic, able to take a punch, single, and solitary.  Unlike the size of Baby Boomers (80 million) and Millennials (94 million), Gen-X has just about 46 million members, making it a dark horse demographic. They are the middle child of two larger generations and are often labeled the “forgotten generation.” 

NEWS: Harrington to speak at 2015 SHRM Vermont Human Resources State Conference on the Millennial Generation

NEWS: Harrington to speak at 2015 SHRM Vermont Human Resources State Conference on the Millennial Generation

Author and generational expert Matt Harrington will be presenting at the state SHRM conference entitled HREvolution: Change Tomorrow Today on Thursday, September 10th in Burlington, Vermont.  Harrington’s presentation, Building the New Workplace that the Next Generation Demands: Key Ways We Can Transform Our Organization for the Future Workforce, will focus on strategies to utilize an organization’s aging workforce and develop skills to prepare for the new workforce.

 

Say It Isn’t So! The Day I Decided To Delete the Facebook App from My Phone

Say It Isn’t So! The Day I Decided To Delete the Facebook App from My Phone

So the other day I deleted the Facebook app from my smart phone (as the title might suggest).  I had finally gotten to the point where my eyes were exhausted and bloodshot from staring too long at the blue-boxed platform that keeps me up-to-date with “everything in the entire world.” My ‘finger swipe refresh’ was doing just the opposite – with little updates coming through, every other second of the swipe, I was not refreshed.  I felt depressed, guiltier and guiltier as I realized I was addicted to status updates and my Facebook app.

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Millennials with Matt Episode 1: What Makes a Generation a Generation

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Millennials with Matt Episode 1: What Makes a Generation a Generation

In this episode generations expert Matt Harrington takes a look at what makes a generation an actual generation.  When we talk generations in the workplace or in our personal life we often look at the age or the two points in time the group of people were born into.  Instead we should be looking at what took place during that generation, especially in their formative years, that now defines their outlook on the world and the way they think others should act.  There are also other tips and tactics in the episode discussed when talking about generations.  Enjoy!

Millennials: The "Risk-Averse" Generation? (TD.org)

Millennials: The "Risk-Averse" Generation? (TD.org)

“While technology is young people's oxygen, risk may be their carbon monoxide," stated Inc. magazine, in its May 2015. This statement was a clear response to the decrease of upstart entrepreneurs in this generation as opposed to other generations. According to the magazine, young people (25-35 years old) launched 35 percent of start ups in 1996, young people start ups only made up 18 percent of the market in 2014. Indeed, although innovative and team-oriented, Millennials may be the most risk-averse generation. But why? 

XPollination (Ep. 14) - Millennials and Knowledge Sharing

XPollination (Ep. 14) - Millennials and Knowledge Sharing

Special guest Giulia Sergi has worked in a variety of technology roles; previously with Bank of America, and now currently with HealthScape.  She is also a graduate student at Northwestern University studying Learning and Organizational Change. Her passion is around understanding the dynamics of organizations, teams, and the individuals in them.  Today she joins us to talk about the idea of knowledge sharing and why it’s crucial in our work environments especially as the it gets more complex and fast-paced.  Millennials obviously play a crucial role (and are somewhat of a pioneer) in this idea of knowledge sharing so we wanted to get her on the show to talk to us about the idea.

Isn’t This Just Business? Millennials’ Transactional Loyalty to Organizations and Why Organizations Hate It.

Isn’t This Just Business? Millennials’ Transactional Loyalty to Organizations and Why Organizations Hate It.

Organizations have been in an uproar about the hop-scotching that Millennials do in their career with very little regard for the company.  Why?  I’ve seen organizations let go of people left and right, level a whole department for a better stockholder return, move people into positions of little power to make them leave.  Unemployed workers talk about being angry, sad and confused about the lack of loyalty from the company for all the years the worker had put in. So, why are organizations and managers ‘hurt’ or blindsided when Millennial workers say, “we’re not sticking around for that, good bye.”  Isn’t it just the transactional relationship the employer/employee relationship has been built upon?